Bitcoin Forum

It will not be advisable to make transactions in bitcoin within a country where cryptocurrency transactions are illegal by the law. But Imagine this scenario that someone has been using their bitcoins for transaction secretly successfully, and then one day decides to use the bitcoin that they have to make payment for something like a property to the owner of the property, If there is this kind of problem for instance where the owner of the property decides to claim that they did not receive any money in bitcoin, and the case is taken to a law court, what do you think the outcome of the case will be?
If proofs of payment are provided but in cryptocurrency, do you think the court will consider it even though transactions are tagged illegal with it? or will the case be thrown out and the owner of the property with the false claim of not receiving the money be allowed to go freely?

The outcome would be bad for both sides, if the owner claim that he didn't get the money in bitcoin he could go to jail for the fact that he was making a deal with bitcoin.

Is like someone buying cocine and claiming that he didn't get the cocine, it's a ilegal activity and buyer and seller should get in troubles if they decide to deal the situación with the Police.

The final verdict will probably depend on the country and how the laws work there. Suppose it's a country where there is respect for the law and there is no corruption or anything. In that case, the court will ask both parties to submit proof, such as the buyer should show proof of the payment since he claims he made the payment, and the seller will then need to prove that he didn't receive the transaction considering the seller sent the funds in a wallet that can be linked to the buyer in some way. If he sent them in an unknown wallet, I don't know how they will be able to prove that the address belongs to the seller, so that can be a negative point for the buyer.

However, if the buyer can prove that the address receiving the funds belongs to the seller then the court will surely investigate to find out if the funds are received or not, and if received, they will either be returned or confiscated considering the use of cryptocurrencies is illegal within the country, and the buyer might be charged a penalty or something for it.

One thing in this case is clear, the buyer will not get out of it without any trouble because you are using cryptocurrencies when it's illegal, even if the seller doesn't get away with it and with the funds, the court will probably not let the buyer have the funds as well unless they charge him a heavy fine on it.

Assuming that the complainant isn't a person of influence and also assuming that the judge and jury isn't corrupt, then the defendant would need the services of top notch lawyers to plead his case. The law is neither black nor white there are some grey areas that I believe can always be exploited by the lawyers to turn the case in the favor of their client. An unrelated and humorous example is like that of a prisoner sentence to life in prison but then died and was resuscitated. He argued that he had already served his life sentence since he died... I don't know how the story ended but you get the point I am driving at already.

I think haven't followed court proceedings and how the law operate in most cases, the law will hold the person sending the Bitcoin as means of payment and the property seller receiving the Bitcoin, as first and second offender of the law. the issue of who received payment and who did not receive payment will be immaterial, as both of them will be culpable for breach of the law, hence the relevant sections of the constitution concerning law offenders on that subject matter will be read out to them. Because it will be assumed that they both know that bitcoin activities in the country is illegal, so they will be held for breach of the law.

The thing is bitcoin isn’t like those kind of traditional monetary system where you have cases like that, transaction will are stored public blockchain so it will be crystal clear maybe it was received after sent or not. So except the receiver wants to scam the sender the transaction will be visible for him to see.


Ok let’s assume it got to this place, the case cannot be taken to court because both parties will be held liable to doing cryptocurrency transactions which was presumably unlawful and illegal and that will only make law breakers, moreover the court wouldn’t attend to this case before it is not under constitution laws. So the sender would have give up this case sadly

Both of you will be in subject of investigation and for sure will be proven that both of you use bitcoin then might go to jail with that or pay penalties. So to avoid getting any issue much better don't use bitcoin for doing p2p transaction.

Much better that you should use bitcoin for investment purposes only since its dangerous to transact using this knowing that government declare it as illegal asset. So always use fiat when dealing something since this is more ideal to use especially when we talk about safety.

To many crazy things that we don't want to happen so we always choose safety over our wants to transact using bitcoin.

When it borders on fraud, the law will first of all act to protect the party involved not to lose their money, and since the transaction in bitcoin is not hiden, it won't take the court too much effort to verify wether or not the money was credited via bitcoin since the sender should be able to provide transactions trx and also the receiver provides his address with agreements.

And after then the law can now take it stand on why the both party deal on bitcoin knowing that the government have banned it transactions, so this is not a big problem issue at all, and in most cases, both parties can easily settle out of court to avoid penalty from the law.

When a country's regulations have been set, then:
what is prohibited will still be illegal when done,
and when done, it means breaking the rules.
and if you break the rules, you will be subject to sanctions,
if caught and proven guilty.
The point is in this

there must be proof from both. However, here, the Bitcoin sender has a greater loss. Even if he can prove the transaction transfer, but the recipient claims that the wallet is not his, then the sender will really lose.

However, as far as I know, if you are going to make a transaction that is so big, such as buying property, there must be something called a sales and purchase agreement, including an agreement regarding payment details, invoices, and proof of payment, then there is a deed of purchase through a notary. So if it is stated in the agreement that the transaction was made with Bitcoin and the recipient's wallet is listed, then the recipient will not dare to file this in court because they understand the consequences, in fact both of them will lose.

And it seems difficult to deny, because basically, there will be proof of chat for sending transactions and others. '

If the case is like this:
There is no agreement letter, no chat evidence, and no witnesses to support it, then:
the sender is someone who is very careless and may be easily deceived. And this is a fatal mistake because it is easy to trust or carelessly spend money even in Bitcoin for transactions without evidence, witnesses, and others. So in this case, the Bitcoin sender is the one who will suffer a big loss.

That's indeed debatable.

What are the repercussions for using bitcoin in the specific country? because laws could differ in each country. If it's something like a paying a doable fine then it is worth considering bringing the case to a lawyer for a legal advise. It could be risky if there is a jail time lol.

Ultimately, you'll have to weigh down the pros and cons plus check in with your risk appetite.

... But why would they use Bitcoin? I reckon there are a bunch of other methods out there that they're able to use to convert that Bitcoin into fiat. But considering the situation, I'd say it depends on the laws of the country? I reckon there's some lawful agreement before the sales of any property so they'd have to write up some contract or something and they'd have to talk to a lawyer about that. That should pretty much cement that they can't use Bitcoin since it's not legal right there tbh.

But let's say it DID get through for some reason, I'm pretty sure before anything else, they'd both get arrested just for the fact that they're both transacting in Bitcoin, regardless of the result. The government might even take the Bitcoin themselves.

If using bitcoin is illegal. the buyer would be in danger. If he takes the case to court, the focus will shift into him. 'Why were you using bitcoin in the first place?' They would ask him so not only do I think the court will not recognize the buyer's claims, I think they might even punish the buyer for using bitcoin. In reality, if this happened to the buyer in a country where bitcoin is illegal, I am sure he would not want to take this to court afraid of getting consequences himself or just wasting time.

Plus cases like this will fuel the already existing hatred of the country to bitcoin. If this hit public, the government will basically be saying 'I TOLD YOU SO. DO NOT USE BITCOIN.'

Non custodial wallets are not KYC. No one knows you own bitcoin if you store it in a non custodial wallet (no KYC).

To protect your privacy with transactions, you need to use two things: Bitcoin full node, and Tor.

A beginner guide to Bitcoin Privacy (https://bitcoiner.guide/privacy/)

When you're doing illegal things, make sure you don't trade with a scammer. Because if you are scammed, you will be less ready to file a report to police or government for support.

Both of you will have sentences from the court, like jails. Because in this trade, both buyer and seller broke the national law. If one of you are scammer, the sentence for the scammer will be stricter by doing illegal things, and scam.

If you are using Bitcoin in a country where it's illegal, then you are risking yourself in lots of ways. If are going to pay someone in Bitcoin for buying a property like lets say an apartment, but the other part has some devious motives and says they didn't get the money, you are pretty much screwed. Even if you have proof of transaction on the blockchain that you sent the funds, the justice departments will not recognize it since crypto transactions are banned there. The one selling you the apartment knows this very well and had it planned all along. Since no fiat currency is involved, the government wont do anything for you, but as soon as you try to make it a legal matter, you are ending up admitting that you did something illegal. All you will do is get into more trouble, while the counterparty escapes with your money.

Never would I purchase something that requires paper work using Bitcoin in a country where Bitcoin is illegal.  It would be a very stupid move.  I may go to another country and purchase myself a Smart phone or a Laptop, I may go and get myself some clothing or eat at some Restaurants.  But I would not buy property such as cars or Real Estate if I could not do it using Bitcoin legally.  You would obviously set yourself up for failure and Scam attempts.  Because why would I want to accept an illegal Currency unless I had dubious motives?

It depends on how much money they have, if they're multi millionaire, they can bribe the police and they will be free. The one who use Bitcoin to buy property will not going to jail, while the scammer will going to jail, but only for few days and he will be free.

If they not have enough money to bribe, both of them high likely going to jail.

Real estate transactions almost always require the consent of both parties and both parties will sign certain paperwork before the transaction can be completed. The buyer will never be able to use bitcoins for payment if the seller does not accept that request and provide the wallet address and that will definitely be mentioned in the contract. Not to mention, usually real estate sales contracts are only valid after being confirmed by government agencies, so I doubt this transaction would be possible in a country where bitcoin is illegal. So in case it happened, both parties are in danger, not only the buyer but also the seller is even charged with the more serious crime of intentionally appropriating another person's property.

I asked GPT 4-o about it because I'm not a lawyer and AI is pretty good at such stuff on the basic advisory level. It said that the person who paid in Bitcoin and filed a lawsuit for being scammed is unlikely to get any compensation from the property owner by a court decision, and it is likely that the court would actually focus on the BTC user and persecuting him for using illegal payment option, although the scammer might face some kind of legal consequences as well.
So yeah, not a good situation for someone using Bitcoin for a major purchase in a country where Bitcoin is illegal.

It's true that the outcome will be bad for both of them because the receiver will be seen as guilty as the sender, it'll then be a case of an offender and accomplice. I think that the severity of their judgement will depend on the extent of Bitcoin ban in their country. Bitcoin transaction will always be private between two parties anywhere in the world if they don't involve any third parties like CEX and the receiver don't try to scam the sender. It'll be nice to share a real life experience so we'll practically know how it was resolved.

First, don’t use bitcoin for transactions in a country where it is illegal. IMO it’s not worth risking jail time for. Secondly, if there is a disagreement between buyer and seller, it cannot be taken to court because both parties may face jail time for breaking the law in the first place.

I don’t think this transaction is possible in a country where bitcoin is illegal. Buying real estate is different from buying groceries or making bitcoin payments online.  The purchase would require legal paperwork, the presence of a lawyer (on both sides), and a government agency.

You will not benefit from taking legal advice from the internet, not to mention that this advice is for a scenario that is unlikely to happen.

The difference in interpretation of such a case will be in the real estate law, if it allows payment in any currency, then the sales contract is valid, but since you owned the house with illegal money, the house may be confiscated and you may be imprisoned, so the contract is valid, but you will cause yourself legal problems.

Do not take legal advice from the internet, including the advice above.

Actually no, it is already in their law so any transactions related to it possible you have a case fine will be sue on you because the first place you know already that's illegal, instead why not to convert your bitcoin into the local currency so you don't get a problem with the payment I know its just more way easier on it to pay but I guess its quite hassle for transaction at the same time there's a proof of payment and paper instead using the bitcoin and provide a transaction id. Depends on the decision and proof will be provided by the both party.

If bitcoin is illegal in a country, then you can't legally obtain property with it. Legal or not, you shouldn't pay for property with bitcoin without proper paperwork filled out and signed in front of a public notary. The seller can, of course, claim that you never paid for the property as there is no proof you did.

Both seller and buyer would be in trouble in such a scenario. They are breaking their nations laws by using a payment method the country doesn't recognize and deems illegal. You might as well pay with drugs, weapons, and stolen kidneys. The only difference is the penalties for such offences.

I don't really understand the law. However, if a country has banned alternative transactions using bitcoin, and the person still uses it, I think the person will be punished. I don't know about the person who owns the property, but the person who made the transaction has committed a violation, and the law of the country has stated that it is illegal, and maybe to avoid something like this. so it all depends on the outcome of the court's decision. In my own country, bitcoin is also banned as an alternative payment, but it is allowed as an investment. So I only use bitcoin as an investment.

You are forgetting something very important: the source of the money. You can't just turn up with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and go, I want to buy a house. What's the source of your money, how did you obtain it? Can you prove how you earned it? Even if you wanted to pay taxes with illegally obtained funds, the tax office isn't going to accept it, and you will get into even bigger trouble as there will be an investigation into your business dealings.

If you have Bitcoin and use a VPN or Tor every time you make a transaction and broadcast, then no one will know that you are a Bitcoin user. If you send someone a coin that way in your country and that person is quiet, i.e. it stays within you two, then you are safe. If bitcoin transaction is illegal and that person claims that he hasn't received Bitcoin, then that person is safe but if that person claims that he had to receive bitcoin but didn't receive Bitcoin and files a lawsuit against you, then he is in danger. If it's illegal, you definitely shouldn't provide proof of payments, if you provide, then you'll be in trouble. You shouldn't take that risk, you shouldn't make yourself dependent on someone else's honesty, especially in a case when your future can be ruined.
Seoincorporation gave you a good real-life comparison.

In my opinion, it is better not to report to the police because it is risky, it is possible that the suspect and the victim will both be punished for using Bitcoin as a means of payment in their country which has clearly banned Bitcoin. It is better to use bitcoin for investment or trading if we are in a country that prohibits bitcoin, if we want to buy something then we must exchange Bitcoin into fiat money to be safer.

If you are going to use bitcoin in a country which considers it to be illegal then I think a VPN would be recommended, but when it comes to transactions which involve big sums like buying assets such as a house then documents will be needed, if you can afford a lawyer to facilitate the transaction then do so to protect your transaction just to make sure you have this recorded somewhere!!

Never go the crypto way to buy assets without witnesses because the seller can easily say they dont remember receiving these funds or this didn't happen and you can be at a great loss.

I don't want to think about the rest of the story but my concern here is that no body can ever deny not to have received a Bitcoin transaction that have been successful confirmed because the evidence is not hidden. If anyone denies not to have received their payment that is successfully confirmed on the blockchain, they can look through their address to see if they have moved it out to another wallet and if such unauthorized withdrawal is made from the receivers end, the sender is not to be blame or hold responsible.

Any customer that tries to deny such payment in a country that Bitcoin is not legal is only trying to implicate the person that is making the Bitcoin payment.

It would be bad for both sides if the buyer decide to expose the seller that he owns bitcoin and have been using it even though it is illegal in their country to use. For buyer side is that the property owner wouldn't say that he received the payment in bitcoin even though he really did get the payment and he can expose the property owner that he's been using bitcoin many times even though it is illegal in the country if he decided to exposed both of them. Also, it will be very suspicious when you suddenly have lots of money and will be curious where the funds came from.

If such transactions are shown to court or law then both parties will have to pay the fines and may get behind bars for breaking the law. And, there's chance that both parties Bitcoin assets might get seized by the authorities once they learn about it. I think one should avoid Bitcoin transactions in a country where law doesn't allow it.

In a country where crypto is not legal, it's even an offence to use it, which means the person who claims they have bitcoin and used it to make payment will be in trouble. 
 
And since the payment method used is not legal, it can't be considered a payment at all. The person will be asked to pay back if he or she really wants to keep that property. The payment and any fines levied on the person will be paid. 
 
There have been similar cases of such, but it was a luxury car purchase. I can't find the link to the case; I would have shared it here.

I think it will be considered because in the court of law, every evidence is availed a chance of examination and untill proven not to be viable, it's upheld after which a fine or sentence can be passed on the other party for accepting an illegal form of payment and the payee will be given his own sentence for paying through such unapproved methods, I am not a lawyer but logically I think this may apply but otherwise I stand to be corrected.